The Keeper Of The Stars
by PokeHedwig2002
Summary: AAML. That's about all I know at this point. I just wrote it in, like, ten minutes. I was planning on a long, epic-type thing, but my heart just wasn't in it.


The Keeper Of The Stars  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own PokÃ©mon. Duh. I also do not own "The Keeper Of The Stars" by Tracy Byrd (who happens to be a GUY!)  
  
Summary: Just a really short fic with no real plot line. It was literally written in, like, ten minutes.  
  
A/N: Like I said, it was written in, like, ten minutes and has no real backbone. I might write a deeper version if I can get out of this darned slump. Stupid theatre threw off my concentration by not getting Resident Evil when it was supposed to!  
  
**************************************************************************** *****  
  
It was no accident me finding you  
  
Someone had a hand in it  
  
Long before we ever knew  
  
Now I just can't believe you're in my life  
  
Heaven's smilin' down on me  
  
As I look at you tonight  
  
Ash Ketchum had barely been able to look at anyone through the whole night. His attention was held squarely by the red-haired girl on the other side of the room. He managed to stumble his way through his I'm-finally-a- PokÃ©mon-Master speech, but there was not much else he could do. By all terms, Misty Williams wasn't the kind of girl one thought of when someone mentioned beauty, but tonight...tonight was different. In that long ice blue dress, her fiery hair up and braided with silver, gracing the dance floor with Brock and Tracey like a princess...Ash was scared to talk to her, for fear that he would make a fool out of himself. He just knew he would.  
  
Ash's mother, who was returning from her third dance with Professor Oak, sat down beside her son and gently touched his shoulder. "Ash," she whispered. "You've been staring at her all night, why don't you ask her to dance?"  
  
Ash looked back at Delia and sighed. "I don't want to look like an idiot," he said.  
  
"You won't," Delia said. "Just one dance, Ash. You never know what might happen."  
  
Ash finally decided to take his mother's advice and stood up, slightly shaking as he made his way to the small group of girls.  
  
"Hey, Ash," Melody, from Shamouti Island, said. "You're lookin' pretty good tonight."  
  
Ash blushed slightly. He was sure someone could hear his heart beating.  
  
"I guess you wanna dance with Misty, huh?"  
  
Misty turned her aquamarine eyes to Ash, a quizzical expression on her delicate features.  
  
Ash smiled, the fear of humiliation retreating. "Would you care to dance?" he asked her.  
  
Misty looked faintly surprised; after all, Ash didn't usually dance. She hadn't seen him on the dance floor once since his mother had made him dance with her. But she couldn't ignore the fact that he looked incredibly handsome in his tuxedo, even with his flyaway hair. She smiled and held her hand out to him. "I'd love to," she said.  
  
Nothing about the way she looked, spoke, or danced reminded him of the girl he traveled with, and he supposed that that was what she had been trying to tell him the last time they had a fight. He was trying as hard as he could not to start babbling, but her being so close had such a strong effect on him that four words managed to find their way into the air: "I love you, Misty."  
  
Misty jumped back a little, staring into his chestnut eyes, and she realized that he was serious, the look in his eyes was so serious, so...loving? It wasn't until he closed his eyes and looked away that she realized how powerful she felt for him. But he was leaving: he thought she would be angry.  
  
Ash broke into a run once he was off the dance floor. He didn't stop until he reached the balcony. How could he be so stupid, to say something like that? She probably hated him now! Why did he say that?  
  
"Ash?" a soft voice came from behind him.  
  
Ash didn't look. She probably wanted to hit him.  
  
"Ash?"  
  
He finally turned around, expecting to be punched in the face, but instead, he was met with an incredible feeling he didn't understand. A few seconds passed before he realized she was kissing him, and that he was kissing back.  
  
"I love you, too, Ash," was all she said before she kissed him again.  
  
  
  
I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars  
  
He sure knew what he was doin'  
  
When he joined these two hearts  
  
I hold everything  
  
When I hold you in my arms  
  
I've got all I'll ever need  
  
Thanks to the keeper of the stars  
  
***  
  
Soft moonlight on your face oh how you shine  
  
It takes my breath away  
  
Just to look into your eyes  
  
I know I don't deserve a treasure like you  
  
There really are no words  
  
To show my gratitude  
  
  
  
The young couple lay in bed, staring into each other's eyes. A year had blazed by in no time at all. Ash and Misty had both realized on that fateful night that there would be no more denying their love for one another. Even a courtship seemed foolish, like it was just putting off what they knew would eventually happen And on Misty's twenty-first birthday, it happened. Just after she had blown out the candles on her birthday cake, she had joked that she had wished for Ash and her to get married. Ash promptly got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She was stunned and didn't recover until Brock hissed at her to say something already. Then she had said yes. And now, they were husband and wife, their souls joined by marriage.  
  
"I don't deserve this," Ash whispered.  
  
Misty searched his eyes for a reason. "Why not?" she asked.  
  
"I've treated you so...so wrong, all these years...why are you here?"  
  
The pained expression in her new husband's eyes cut into her heart. "Because I knew you never meant it," she whispered. "Just like you know I never meant what I said."  
  
Ash smiled and leaned over to kiss her. "I can't even try to describe how I feel right now," he said.  
  
Misty shook her head. "Then don't, honey," she said. "Just don't. I know." She brushed his hair out of his eyes for him. "I love you, and I know we're going to be together for a very long time."  
  
"I hope you're right," Ash said.  
  
"I just want you to know," she whispered. "If you ever leave, I'll find you and bring you back, because you will be so wrong."  
  
"I don't think you need to worry," Ash said, kissing her again and feeling her rest her head on his chest as the two finally drifted to sleep.  
  
  
  
So I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars  
  
He sure knew what he was doin'  
  
When he joined these two hearts  
  
I hold everything  
  
When I hold you in my arms  
  
I've got all I'll ever need  
  
Thanks to the keeper of the stars  
  
***  
  
Misty held a baby, no older than a week, in her arms as she stood staring at the cold stone in front of her. "Oh, Ash..." she whispered. "Why did you insist on chasing that PokÃ©mon?"  
  
Two weeks ago, Ash had left his wife, who was eight months pregnant, to accompany Lance, the former PokÃ©mon League champion, on a trip to the Orange Islands, where the legendary Ho-oh was said to have been sighted. Ash had been so excited, convinced that Ho-oh was the PokÃ©mon he had seen on his first day as a trainer so many years ago. Misty had begged him not to go, saying that the baby could come at any time, but Ash had promised her that he would be back in two weeks, and the baby wasn't due for another month. She still remembered what had happened.  
  
::FLASHBACK::  
  
Misty was lying on the sofa, watching an overly mushy movie on TV when the phone suddenly rang. Taking a while to get up because of her rather large belly, she managed her way to the phone. "Hello?" she said.  
  
There was no reponse from the other end for a minute, and Misty was ready to hang up, convinced it was a prank caller until a tiny, tiny voice came through the other end. "Misty?"  
  
It was Delia, by the sound of it. "Delia?" Misty said. "What...what's wrong?"  
  
Delia's image finally materialized on the screen. "Misty...it's Ash..."  
  
Misty felt her heart sink to her feet. "What about him?"  
  
"Oh, Misty...I don't want to believe it...but...he's...he's dead, Misty..."  
  
"What?" Misty almost squeaked. "When? How?"  
  
Delia put her head in her hands, trying not to break down for sake of the pregnant woman she was talking to. "Last night...he and...Lance found...that PokÃ©mon...but...something happened...and it set a PokÃ©mon Center on fire...Ash went in to...try and save the people trapped...and...the building collapsed...with him in it..."  
  
There was suddenly an unknown force preventing Misty from breathing. She stared at Delia's image in horror. Ash? Dead? It couldn't be...could it? No, this was just a bad dream...right?  
  
::END FLASHBACK:  
  
It hadn't been a dream. They had found Ash's horribly burned body the next day and had sent it back to Pallet so his family could have a decent funeral. It tore Misty's heart out, to see all the people whose lives had been impacted by her husband, and it also hurt to receive so much sympathy. She had gone into labour the day after, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  
  
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at the baby, who was not old enough yet to have lost the black fuzz on top of his head. He was so tiny, the smallest thing she had ever seen. But he was also the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. He was all she had of her short life with Ash. And she knew that her husband was watching. They had once thanked the keeper of the stars, and now, Ash was the keeper of Misty's stars.  
  
  
  
It was no accident me finding you  
  
Someone had a hand in it  
  
Long before we ever knew  
  
***  
  
A/N: I had absolutely no plot in mind for this, I just wrote it totally on a whim. I just hope this goes over better than my last fic (which I removed to protect my sanity. People can be cruel. No respect for the dead, my ass.) 


End file.
